Mutations

Many Mutants & Magic PCs have one or more special abilities called ‘mutations’. Each mutated character possesses a unique combination of beneficial and detrimental mutations, and thus must be generated from scratch.

All mutations are classified as either mutant perks or mutant flaws. Perks are beneficial, while flaws are baneful. Every mutated character will possess one or more of each.

Not all mutations are equal; some are more powerful (or debilitating) than others. Perks and flaws are broken down into three grades: minor, medium, and major. (A few mutations can belong to either one grade or another, depending on how they are rolled.)

For every mutant perk of a given grade that you possess, you must also have a mutant flaw of the same grade. The description for your genotype gives the number of mutant perks that you can have, as well as the mutation grades allowed. Near-humans have one or two minor perks, or one medium perk (plus corresponding flaws), while mutants have between one to four mutant perks of any grade plus corresponding flaws).

The following pages list the mutations available and describes their effects:

Go To: Random Mutant Perks Table
Go To: Random Mutant Flaws Table

Go To: Mutation Descriptions

Ask the referee for clarification if you are not clear on how your perks or flaws work.

In general, mutations of the same type do not stack, so you can’t have ‘Scaly Armour’ (+4 natural armour) over your ‘Thick Hide’ (granting +2 natural armour). In cases such as this, you have to pick a different perk or flaw (or re-roll the last one, if the conflicting mutations were determined randomly).

Generating Mutations

Mutations are determined semi-randomly. For each pair of mutations (a perk and a flaw of a given grade), you may select one (either the perk or the flaw) and you must roll for the other. You generate random mutations by rolling d% on the Mutant Perks Table or Mutant Flaws Table of the corresponding grade.

Repeat until you are satisfied with your mutations, or until you have reached the maximum number of mutations for your genotype.

It is your choice whether to pick the perk or the flaw; some players prefer to select perks, while others pick their character’s flaws. Most referees will allow you to change your selected mutations after rolling for random perks and flaws. If you’ve rolled up ‘Blindness’ as a random flaw, for example, you’d better pick ‘Blindsight’ as a perk! If you prefer, you could even roll all your random mutations first then spend some time deciding on which corresponding perks and flaws would be best.

If you obtain the same mutation more than once, pick a new mutation (if you’ve already selected it) or re-roll the result (if it was rolled twice). (There are some exceptions. ‘Additional Arm’, for example, can be gained more than once.) Some mutations also have opposite or incompatible effects (such as ‘Dwarfism’ and ‘Gigantism’, or ‘Blindness’ and ‘Poor Vision’). If you get a combination that doesn’t make sense, re-roll the last mutation.